Feed and stop pawl depressor arrangement for a gun



F. E. NIESS May 21, 1957 FEED AND STOP PAWL DEPRESSOR ARRANGEMENT FOR A GUN Filed Jan. 20, 1954 INVENTOR FRAKLI' E. aEss ATTORNEYS FEED AND STOP PAWL DEPRESSQR GEMENT FOR A GUN Franklin E. Niess, Washington, D. C.

Application January 20, 1954, Serial No. 405,265

7 Claims. (Cl. 8-33) (Granted under Title 35-, U. S. (lode (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

The invention relates to improvements in machine gun cartridge loaders of the type utilizing cartridge feed and stop pawls, and more particularly to improved means for assisting in the removal of ammunition from the automatic loader.

The old method of clearing ammunition from the automatic loader of an antiaircraft gun is by inserting a device between the live cartridges and the feed and stop pawls. This requires not only finding and inserting the suppressing device but also removing the device from the cartridges after their removal from the loader.

An important obiect of the invention is to provide feed and stop pawl depressors mounted on the machine gun cartridge loader so as not to become lost, dropped and damaged, or incorrectly placed during use.

Another object of the invention is the provision of feed and stop pawl depressors which may be operated selectively or in unison by one man of the gun crew to free the ammunition for lifting up and out of the loader.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a machine gun loader including feed and stop pawls and showing feed and stop pawl depressors attached to the loader frame; and

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the feed pawl depressor for the right feed pawl.

In the drawing, which for the purpose of illustration shows the invention applied to the right loader frame of a 40 mm. antiaircraft gun of the Bofors type, the numeral 10 generally designates the loader which serves to automatically feed cartridges to the rammer tray 11 and then to catapult them into the firing chamber (not shown).

The principal parts of the loader 1! are the front, center and rear guides Til-14, respectively, the stop and feed pawls 15, 16, respectively, and the star wheels 17,

18, these being mounted above the rammer tray 11. The guides 12-14 position the clips of ammunition (not shown) and guide the downward motion of the cartridges as they are fed into the loader. The stop pawls 15 are all pivoted in fixed pawl holders, as for instance that designated 19 in the right loader frame, while the feed pawls 16 are pivoted in feed pawl holders, such as that designated 2t), that are free to move up and down with respect to their respective center guides. The pawls 15, 16 are spring urged and so pivoted that a cartridge can be forced downward into the loader but is restrained from moving in the opposite direction.

The two star wheels 17, 18, mounted below the stop 2,792,762 Patented May 21, 19,57

and feed pawls and locked by catches such as that designated 23, form a trough in which the bottom cartridge rests. When the star wheel catches are released, and downward pressure is applied to the lower cartridge, both star wheels turn and the bottom cartridge passes therebetween to the Iammer tray below. The required downward pressure is provided by the feed pawls 16.

Mounted for limited vertical reciprocatory movement on the center guide 13 in the right loader frame, as by pin and slot connectors 24 alongside the stop and feed pawl holders 19, 20, are stop and feed pawl depressors 25, 26, the feed pawl depressor 25 being separately illustrated in Fig. 2. The left center guide portion (not shown) may be similarly equipped with depressors for the stop and feed pawls of the left loader frame.

Formed of a strong, rust resistant sheet metal of right angular shape in cross section, each depressor includes a slotted side flange 27 provided with a knob 28 and attached to the loader frame by means of the previously mentioned pin connectors 24, and a serrated flange 29 providing a series of normally vertically spaced apart right triangular projecting fingers 30, each with its right angular edge 31 lowermost and riding on a feed or stop Dawl.

To remove the ammunition from the loader, as for instance, upon the occurrence of a casualty putting the gun out of action, the first loader of the gun crew, upon being told to clear the loader frame of live ammunition, need Only push down on the four knobs 28, two for each side of the loader, to lower the depressors and thereby swing the feed and stop pawls out of engagement with the cartridges, thus allowing the ammunion to be lifted up and out of the loader. It will thus be seen that the depressor attachments provide a quicker, handler and safer way to unload the live ammunition from the loader.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefiore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine gun having a cartridge loader guide for positioning clips of ammunition and downwardly guiding the cartridges as they are fed into the loader, said loader guide including a pawl holder and a series of vertically aligned spaced rigidly fixed pawls pivoted in the pawl holder, springs urging said pawls to pivot outwardly of said pawl holder for engagement with cartridges in said guide, and a manually operable pawl depressor unit mounted for up and down movement along said guide including a series of vertically aligned rigidly fixed spaced fingers riding respectively on said pawls and acting to swing said pawls inwardly of said pawl holder against the force of said springs upon downward movement of said depressor unit, thus disengaging said pawls from said cartridges to permit the removal of the cartridges from the loader.

2. In a machine gun having a cartridge loader guide including a pawl holder and a row of spaced pawls pivoted therein, said row being parallel to the path of cartridge travel, and having springs urging said pawls to pivot in a direction for engagement with cartridges in said guide, a manually operable device including a flange portion having a row of rigidly fixed spaced fingers riding respectively on said pawls, said device being mounted for movement relative to said guide in a direction whereby said fingers act to simultaneously cam said pawls out of engagement with cartridges in said guide to permit the removal of the cartridges from the loader.

3. In a machine gun having a cartridge loader guide for positioning clips of ammunition and downwardly guiding the cartridges as they are fed into the loader said loader guide including feed and stop pawl holders, lineally arranged feed pawls and lineally arranged stop pawls respectively pivoted in the feed and stop pawl holders and springs urging said feed pawls and stop pawls to pivot outwardly of their respective holders for engagement with cartridges in said guide; a manually operable pawl depressor unit for each set of pawls mounted for up and down movement along the guide, said units each including a series of lineally spaced fingers positioned in proximity to its adjacent set of pawls and acting to swing said pawls inwardly of said pawl holders upon downward movement of said units to permit the removal of the cartridges from the loader.

4. In a machine gun having a cartridge loader guide for positioning clips of ammunition and downwardly guiding the cartridges as they are fed into the loader, said loader guide including feed and stop pawl holders, a row of spaced feed pawls and a row of spaced stop pawls respectively pivoted in the feed and stop pawl holders, springs urging said feed pawls and stop pawls to pivot outwardly of their respective holders for engagement with cartridges in said guide, manually operable means mounted adajcent the feed pawl holder for simultaneously swinging said feed pawls out of engagement with said cartridges, and independent manually operable means mounted adjacent the stop pawl holder for simultaneously swinging said stop pawls out of engagement with said cartridges to permit the removal of the cartridges from the loader.

5. A pawl depressor attachment for cooperation with the feed chute of a rapid fire gun comprising, a fiat base plate securable to the side of the chute for limited movement along the surface thereof and a plurality of fingers extending from the plate and controlled by bodily movement of the plate to simultaneously inwardly deflect all of said pawls for removal of ammunition from said chute.

6. A feed and stop pawl depressor attachment for cooperation with the cartridge loader guide of a rapid fire gun having a vertical row of spaced pivoted spring biased depressor pawls for feeding and retaining cartridges comprising; a base plate mounted on the side of the loader for movement in a plane parallel to the row of pawls, said base plate having a row of spaced rigidly fixed projections normal thereto and projecting into the operating area of the pawls such that each projection is positioned adjacent one of said pawls, whereby upon movement of the base plate the projections will simultaneously depress the row of pawls from their feeding and retaining positions to permit removal of the cartridges from the loader guide.

7. In a machine gun having a cartridge loader guide for positioning clips of ammunition and downwardly guiding the cartridges as they are fed into the loader, said loader guide including a pawl holder and a series of aligned pawls pivoted in the pawl holder, springs urging said pawl to pivot outwardly of said pawl holder for engagement with cartridges in said guide; a manually operable pawl depressor, said depressor being of right angular shape in cross section and comprising a base plate and a flange portion normal thereto, said flange portion having a series of aligned, rigidly fixed, spaced finger projections for cooperating with said pawls, the base plate being slidably mounted on the side of the guide for longitudinal movement parallel to the guide such that the finger projections being positioned adjacent the pawls engage said pawls upon downward movement of the depressor to depress same and thus permit removal of the cartridges from the loader.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

